Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Hey! Birdie!"

Quill sighed. When Sentry had suggested the two of them volunteer at the local spring festival, she hadn't mentioned the fact that costumes were needed. It was ridiculous really- he was there to make sure nobody got hurt, why did he need to look like an idiot? It wasn't as if Sentry looked stupid either, she arrived early and picked up the cool nature-robot outfit. As per usual, Quill was late and had terrible luck. The remaining costume that fit him was some sort of brown bird thing with a much too heavy hood.

What made it even worse was the constant jeer and giggle of festival goers, drunk out of their minds, as they laughed at the bird man.

Presumably whoever the voice belonged to was going to do the same.

Quill turned slowly and frowned at the man who was stumbling towards him.

He couldn't be sure whether it was drunkenness, or whether the man had never walked in mud before, but this guy was evidently struggling to make his way to the paramedic. He was also wearing a ridiculous pair of white boots that were surprisingly cleanly given the weather condition, and although his outfit was one massive clash of rainbow it wasn't the worst thing Quill had seen someone wearing at an event like this. His hair was a bright blonde, also pristinely held in place, falling almost to his hips. He blew a piece of hair out of his face gently before speaking again.

"I'm really sorry Birdie- but you're one of those paramedic-ie people correct?" He continued to wobble through the mud towards Quill. He didn't sound drunk either- just posh. Probably one of those rich kids whose parents paid for a festival expecting some sort of glamping affair.

"Yeah. Can I help you?" Quill answered after the pause, still watching the man stumble. He held out his arm, palm outstretched, "Maybe give you a hand or something?"

Posh boy took his hand and pulled himself along to Quill with very little grace. "Thank you." He smiled politely, lifting himself up fully so he stood tall.

Close up Quill could see more of his face. What he assumed was make-up creating a weird effect at a distance was actually this guy's eyes. One a bright icy blue, the other a golden brown- almost orange. He didn't have time to ask about it, however, because he was already being questioned himself.

"You only have one arm."

Quill glared at him, but his face didn't have any ill intent, he looked genuinely curious. But Quill had been asked about his arm (or lack thereof) five times already that day, and he had a sarcastic appearance to keep up. "Wow really? I didn't notice."

"But how do you fly?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Was is possible that this guy thought he was a real bird?

The man laughed, revealing a set of gleaming teeth that were definitely not that white naturally. "Silly birdie, I'm joking!"

"Sure-" Quill looked down at his hand, which the blond-haired man was still holding onto. "Did somebody need help or something?"

"Oh. Yes. This way." He felt himself being dragged forward through the mud.

Quill sighed again. “Let me get my bag.”

Once Quill had picked up his bag (working quickly because the man seemed to be bouncing up and down and Quill was worried, he was going to explode), they weaved their way through a crowd that was building up near the main stage. It was behind one of the trucks carrying equipment that they stopped. For a second he wondered if he was about to be murdered, because he couldn’t see anyone else there. However that thought quickly dispersed, because even despite Quill’s short height and missing arm, there was no way this nervous lanky dude could kill him.

“Nova!” He called as he dragged Quill round and sat him down on a picnic blanket next to a girl. She raised her eyebrows as he appeared, holding a paper towel to her forehead. There was a small amount of blood staining the white of her candy-floss hair, presumably why Quill was needed.

“Birdie is going to help you! He’s a paramedic!”

“Trainee paramedic-” Quill corrected him. “Can I ask what happened?”

“Well we came to the festival because Lucius’s dad got us free tickets and I thought that it would be a good idea to wear my glittery shoes- but then I saw a replica sword and thought it would be cool- and of course I'd read about how it got muddy but it didn't say anywhere that it would be this slippery or that someone would park a van in the middle of a field I was running down-”

Quill turned to the guy (Lucius? Was Nova referring to his dad when talking about tickets?) with a concerned look. “Is she normally like this?”

“Nova?” He nodded enthusiastically. “Nova’s always like this.”

He didn’t want to rule out brain injury completely, but that was reassuring. These two were certainly odd or had taken a shit tonne of drugs. Quill daren’t ask which one it was. He cleaned the wound with an alcohol wipe and taped it up- thankfully it wasn’t too deep and wouldn't need stitches. Nova continued to talk to him and Lucius about some sort of sword, to which Lucius nodded intently and Quill had no clue what she was on about.

“Right, I think that's all I can do right now, but I would highly recommend-” He stopped as he felt someone hugging him, uncomfortably tight and slightly awkward. He had never been hugged whilst on the job before. “Erm. Lucius. What are you doing?”

“Thanking you.”

Quill became aware of a blush spreading across his cheeks, and for the first time was grateful for the bird hood covering his face. “Okay.” He cleared his throat and patted Lucius on the back gently. “So as I was saying it might be worth checking in to minor injuries- do hugs normally last this long?”

“You’re just very cuddly, Birdie.” Lucius smiled again, his two-tone eyes glimmering. He eventually let go, leaving Quill feeling a little colder than he was before.

“Thank you- I think?”

He fumbled to put all the equipment back in the bag, zipped it up, and slung it over his shoulder.

“I should be going- but please keep an eye on each other- and maybe a hospital trip wouldn’t be such a bad thing.” Quill made sure to get up and begin to leave as he spoke, fairly certain that Lucius would try and make him stay otherwise.

“It was very nice to meet you Birdie, thank you so much for helping Nova and we promise it won't happen again.”

“Yup thank you Mr bird-man.” Nova called out as well, waving her hands wildly.

Quill smiled and waved back, then turned, but not before watching Lucius blow him a kiss. He felt himself blushing again, pulling his hood down as far as it would go.

The man probably meant nothing by it, he was a little eccentric, kind of odd, and very naive. Blowing a kiss was a gesture that he must not quite understand the meaning of.

There was absolutely no need to look that cute whilst doing it though.

By the time Quill returned his bag and found Sentry again, the red blush had thankfully faded. She looked deflated, explaining that she’d been helping out in the lost children tent for the past hour.  She pulled her bag into the back of the ambulance and sat down.

“What have you been up to then, Quill?” She asked, with a genuine tone of interest.

Quill shrugged. “Nothing too interesting. Couple of oddballs with head injuries.”

“Oh Quill, they weren't mean to you, were they?” She sighed and patted his back comfortingly. “Don’t worry, you’ll never see any of these people again.”

“No- no they were actually nice, just weird. They guy kept calling me Birdie, it was sort of endearing.”

Sentry’s brow furrowed. “Birdie? Oh because of the costume-”

“I don’t suppose it matters much though, like you said, I won't see any of these people again.”

However, a little part of Quill felt differently. Part of him wanted to see them again, and an even smaller part of him was sure that that wasn’t going to be the last time he bumped into Lucius.  

Chapter Text

Even though Quill had been sure he was going to see Lucius again, he hadn't expected it to be so soon. He was secretly excited to see him again but had been hoping it would be somewhere a bit nicer, a coffee shop or the riverside perhaps.

Instead Quill found himself in the middle of the concrete jungle that made up the linguistics department of the university, falling to the ground as some sort of monster lapped at his face. He pushed it off quickly and found himself staring face to face with what was almost a dog.

The slobbery creature, a cross between a pug and a chihuahua and something else small and ugly, shrieked as Quill shuffled away from it. The sound was not that of a dog, or even of any animal he had ever encountered, repetitive and breathy hissing. The animal’s claws seemed to leave marks on the pavement, much longer and more rugged than any normal dog.

“What the fuck are you?”

The puddle of drool was growing ever larger, and Quill had to balance at the edge of the pavement just to avoid it. He still had no idea what to do with the dog creature, that didn’t want to leave him alone.

Fortunately, his saviour was soon to arrive. Running around the corner, heavily out of breath, came Lucius.

“Smeek!” He called, looking from side to side. “Doggy!”

“Lucius?”

He stopped in his tracks, brow furrowing in confusion. “Do I know you-” his eyes suddenly widened. “Birdie!”

“It's nice to see you again.”

“I didn't recognise you without the whole costume thing! And you have glasses on-”

Quill adjusted his gold rimmed glasses. He didn't need glasses; his vision was 20/20 and he prided himself on that. No, the glasses were a fashion choice, gold to match with stitched details on his red sweater. Quill prided himself on his looks as well as his vision, whereas Lucius seemed to have no fashion sense whatsoever.  It was excusable at a festival to be wearing hundreds of colours, but it was half two on a Wednesday and Lucius was wearing a purple raincoat with orange and blue sequins, cow-print leggings and a pair of rainbow converse. He was certainly a sight to see, and Quill couldn't take his eyes off the cacophony of colour.

After realising that Lucius and himself had been staring at each other for too long, Quill turned his face and motioned to the dog with his hand. “Is this yours?”

“Smeek? No he belongs to my friend, Aila. I don’t think he likes me very much.” He frowned and looked to the red harness in his hands. “And he keeps eating his harnesses.”

“Could you maybe take it?” Quill was growing increasingly nervous at the panting of the dog next to him.

Lucius leaned forward and picked up the dog with care, holding it at arm’s length from himself. The drool continued to pool out of its mouth, collecting in the cracks between paving stones.

"I'm not a big fan of dogs..." Quill admitted feeling a bit sheepish sat on the floor.

"He's very sweet really. And he is very very good when he's with Aila" Lucius tied a knot in the harness (although Quill was sure it wasn't going to hold for five minutes), then placed Smeek on the floor. He then held out his hand, "I'm very sorry, I didn't offer to help you up."

Quill took the hand gratefully, and let Lucius pull him to his feet. Whatever assumption he had about Lucius being some sort of lanky weakling was shattered, because he lifted him up with ease.

Then, once again, they ended up stood looking at each other, holding hands.

"What are you doing here anyway, Birdie?" Lucius asked, not struggling to control Smeek with one hand and golf Quill's with his other. "You're a paramedic."

"Student paramedic- I still get access to parts of the University; I was just headed to the library."

"Oh, bookies! I love bookies!" He smiled enthusiastically.

Something about Lucius made Quill doubt that he had ever even read the cover of a book, but he didn't bring it up.

"So, Lucius, what are you studying?"

"Chemistry. But I get this morning off-"

Quill let go of Lucius's hand and stopped him from talking. "I'm sorry, you just don't really strike me as a chemistry student."

"I get that a lot, it's okay." Lucius began to fumble in his pockets. "Here, hold out your hand."

Quill did as he was told, admittedly a little anxious. "Is this safe?"

"Most of the time. What's your favourite colour?"

"Erm- Red, I guess." He stopped as Lucius poured a white powder into his hand, the feeling cold against his palm. "What are you doing? I don't want to lose my other arm."

"Stop worrying Birdie, it's a magic trick! It's chemistry!"

He pulled out a small glass bottle that he definitely shouldn't have, pulled the glass cork out of the lid, then poured a small amount of a clear liquid on top of the powder in his hand. The powder began to fizz, then glow, then amazingly a shining orb of red balanced in his palm.

Quill was speechless. He stared at it, eyes wide, until it began to dwindle and all that was left in his hand has a circle of red crystals.

"That's amazing?"

Lucius smiled smugly, and pulled Smeek, who was tugging at his lead to get away. "Silly doggy." His attention then turned back to Quill. "I call it dancing lights! I've been working on stuff like this when I'm not doing assigned work."

"That's really nice, Lucius. And they let you take it with you?"

He giggled. "Not exactly. I did a sneaky."

Looking down at his hand and checking to see if the reaction had left a mark, Quill became more concerned about what exactly Lucius had poured into his hand. Fortunately there didn't seem to be any signs of damage. He was sure Lucius wouldn't hurt him anyway. At least not on purpose.

He watched as Lucius put the powder and tiny bottle back into his pocket. He then looked up and smiled at Quill with his brilliantly coloured eyes shining once again.

Quill looked away and cleared his throat. "Hey, you know I could do with someone to help me carry books, if you wanted to come along?"

Somehow Lucius smiled wider than before. "That sounds lovely Birdie!" His face then fell. "Wait. What time is it?"

Quill took his phone out of his pocket and checked. "Twenty-five past?" He raised his eyebrows, hoping that this wasn't going to change their plan.

"Oh no. The history lecture finishes in five minutes. I'm so sorry Birdie, I really really want to go, but I promised Aila and Nova."

"That's alright." Quill sighed. "I guess I'll see you around?"

"Oh yeah! Definitely! And I'm so so sorry about Smeek jumping on you."

"Yeah. Maybe next time we should meet without Smeek." He looked down at the dog, who had begun to lick his own backside as he waited.

"I don't know. I think he likes you."

Quill didn't want to see what this creature was like when it didn't like something, because he wouldn't exactly call its behaviour loving. He laughed awkwardly, nevertheless.

"Well- it was good to see you."

Lucius was beaming, "And you!" He leant forward and gave Quill a one-armed hug, as Smeek jumped up at his leg.  "Bye bye birdie!"

"Bye Lucius." Quill whispered too quietly for him to hear, as he watched the man run down the street, dragging the dog-creature after him. Lucius disappeared around the corner; Quill watched until the very last view of blond hair disappeared.

As he stood in the street, not quite sure what to do, Quill remembered he could have just asked for his number and have a purposeful meeting with Lucius rather than bumping into him.

There wasn't anything he could do about that anymore, except hope that the next time they met he wouldn't have that dog with him.